The Hungarian Grand Prix stewards are investigating Michael Schumacher for his attempt to keep Rubens Barrichello behind late in the race.

Barrichello took Schumacher for tenth late in the race but the Mercedes driver pushed him towards the pit wall and off the track on the run towards turn one.

Update: The stewards handed Schumacher a ten-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix for the incident.

Afterwards Barrichello said:

He made a mistake on the last corner.

You know we’ve been there and what we want from racing is to be fair and have battle, especially on a track that is so difficult to overtake on. You should choose a line and that’s it. But he just closed, closed, closed and luckily the wall ran out.

There’s not a rule for that but between ourselves we should just take a line, stick to a line and that’s it.Rubens Barrichello

Schumacher was unrepentant:

There’s not much to say other than he obviously had fresher tyres and my job was to get last corner spot on. I had a line of about five centimetres that I had to hit and on that lap I ran a little wide and started sliding so my exit speed was compromised.

I knew he was coming so I was moving over to the inside to make it clear to him to go on the other side. He didn’t choose to so it was a bit tight.

But we know certain drivers have certain views and then there’s Rubens.Michael Schumacher

Barrichello urged fans to share their thoughts on the incident saying:

It was the most dangerous thing that I’ve ever been through.

His view is that I’m always a big crier. I’d like to see the public vote. Let me know on Twitter!Rubens Barrichello

The verdict of the stewards was as follows:

Fact: Illegitimately impeded Car 9 during an overtaking manoeuvre.
Offence: Involved in an incident as defined by Article 16.1 of the 2010 FIA Formula One Regulations
Penalty: Drop of 10 grid positions at the drivers next event.

Oy vey. Here I was through the first half of the season, ready to give kudos to a driver I once despised just for having the drive to come back to competition. Today Schumacher reminded me why his undeniably immense talent will always remain in the shadow of his utter self-important disregard for racing ethics and, this time, for another drivers’ safety. Ugly, ugly, ugly and bordering on criminal. Boo.

The most dangerous, reckless, unsportsmanlike, stupid and unnecessary piece of arrogant behaviour I can remember seeing. Schumacher should have been black flagged immediately (Charlie Whiting does not need a stewards opinion to do that) and now he should get a three race suspension or his Super-License revoked.
Alternatively, he could retire and fade [dis]gracefully into the sunset.

I always thought that it also counted against Ide that he was just a slow paydriver, secretly. Now, arguably, Schumacher is in this team because of the sponsor potential, so maybe you could construct an argument for him being a slow pay-driver to Rosberg, but it isn’t the same, really.

This is racing. If you think that a driver is expected to give space and let the guy pass then I am sure none of us would be watching the sport. I am sure no driver would be willing to do that. This move became dangerous because of Rubens and not Micheal. If you clearly watch the video, Micheal was always going for the inside and sticked to his line. It was Rubens who had the faster car and needed to plan the move and he went on the wrong side to make it dangerous. What do you expect Micheal to do, instead of figthing for position just stay aside and let him pass easily. If that is what you guys think is racing I am sorry.

Stuffing someone into a wall isn’t racing. Barrichello was already past because Schumacher had left a sufficient gap for him to pass – as he himself pointed out! The problem was Schumacher *continuing* to push right *after* the pass was happening – leaving RB nowhere to go or any chance of braking and pulling out of the maneouvre.

As shown at Canada, Schumacher is now out of his depth and his only recourse is trying to intimidate the faster drivers going past him. Since even that’s not working, he really should quit and let Heidfeld take over.

For him to be able to be stuffed in to the wall, he has to be beside him first. That’s the mistake of RB… to choose a line that was being closed which was right beside a wall. His car was 3 seconds faster than MS’s and he could easily have had him. RB just has ego problem with MS. Look what he said: “I have a lot of experience and usually with a crazy guy like that I would lift off, but not today, absolutely not”. Why? Just because it was Michael.

MS was moving to the right. Now he can’t look in the mirrors all the time coz he is driving. He expected RB to take the other line but when he suddenly saw that he was beside him, he swerved to the left to save RB from going on to the grass. You don’t see that and you blame Michael left & right. Be fair guys.

Afeef and other Schumacher apologists: it’s quite simple. Schumacher continues to squeeze Barrichello towards the wall when the move has been made. It wasn’t a racing maneouver, it was Schumacher getting revenge for being passed by RB by pushing him within cm’s of a serious accident. And the excuse made by some others that all high-speed Formula 1 accidents are now guaranteed 100% non-lethal is just stupid.

Barrichello saw he was closing the door yet he dicided to go for it… Wat was he expecting micheal to give the space and tell please pass…?? He went for wheel banging and came out on top. he shouldn’t be crying.
Micheal could have been a bit easy when closing the door.. But then that’s micheal.

Well, when MS saw that RB stupidly TOOK the line he was closing so rapidly, he made a quick swerve to the left to save him from going on to the grass. RB got himself dangerously close to the wall and MS has to help him not go on the grass. RB should retire. Too emotional to be an F1 driver.

“Barrichello saw he was closing the door yet he decided to go for it…”

I must acknowledge that. Although I think Schumacher is at fault and i repeat that again, it is obvious that Barrichello was also in control of how he decides to carry out the executed move. Especially if he is so claiming that it was the most dangerous one of his life.

Yes, it’s dangerous. but let just say it happens on a corner with a large run off area.. what would happen? it would be that either Barrichello would run slow on his offtrack excursion and join back behind Schumacher or he would overtake Schumacher while cutting the chicane and he need to give the position back.

Schui,just as desperate now as he was just before his retirement.
Judgement gone, attitude appalling,sportsmanship was never there anyway and becoming more dangerous race by race . Schui out Heidfeld in that’s my call.

Schumacher cut his teeth on the likes of Senna who would push and push until there was no ground to give.Reubens had an axe to grind but he isn’t so innocent as younger people on the forum think – did you see the way he was holding hands with Eddie Jordan at the end of the race.Eddie is another wind up merchant,they suit each other.

I recall Damon Hill and Schumacher nearly killing each other in every race,but that is F1 racing,that is what it’s all about.

The answer of schumacher is not complete. When he says rubens is crying he is refering to the comment of rubens during the race about schum being hard to overtake.
Schumacher then admitted that he was a bit mean in his move but also said that he is known for being very tough. So a much more sensible answer than the one written in the article.
Yes it was dirty but they didnt touch, schumacher didnt change line. It is hard to penalise on level of “toughness”. It is motor racing so all these comments on “fairness” are in a way pathetic. Classic british media. Always whinning about others not being fair (footbal world cup, f1, etc). Last month it was redbull not being fair with webber, last week ferrari, now schumacher…

“Classic British media”
I don’t think in this case things are that simple, and it’s definitely not just the British making a big deal out of it. The German commentators (who are generally very Schumacher-friendly to the point of approving anything he does) were highly critical of what happened as well… and while that alone might not say anything about the level of fairness, it makes pretty clear that this wasn’t just another incident that no one would care about if it didn’t involve a 7-time world champion.

Reading the french news, it is completely different level of drama. One line at the end of the article mentionning schumacher being “a bit tough” with barrichelo. Same last week, no such scandal about massa letting alonso through. It was Pure hypocrisis to complain about it

Well, the Dutch newspapers did only spend one line on Massa letting Alonso past, but then again, the whole article was only a paragraph or two – F1 just isn’t a big thing here, so none of it gets much attention, if any at all, in newspapers.